Striker Diafra Sakho, 27, had a huge row with West Ham boss Slaven Bilic before Saturday's draw with Sunderland, after he refused to be named as a substitute. (Sun)
De ja vu. If true how can he expect to start after being out so long!
So much deadwood to get rid of i can't see how we are going to get the bodies in we need. How to keep the ones we have and how to get rid of the ones we need to move on.
I still think we have a decent squad, personally. We've been poor this season for a number of reasons, but the big one is that we have been regularly disrupted by injuries. Whenever we start to settle on a side a key component gets crocked.
We've had a bad season but Antonio, Lanzini, Obiang, Reid and Kouyate (less so than the others) have still had good seasons....all 5 of those players are top half of the table players
Cresswell has had an awful season that was disrupted by an bad injury during preseason....before that he's been one of the best left backs in the league...and can only hope that his class pulls through as
I refuse to believe that none of Ayew, Feghouli or Snodgrass can't find a place in this team their history suggests they can all be big players
Masuaka got some early flack but I've been encouraged he's just a young man, and byram while rash shows the potential to be a useful player
Collins when called upon has been a rock and like the 3 attackers I mentioned I can't 100% rule out Fonte not being a big player....class tells and he's got class
What we really need is a good preseason.....undisturbed but Europa league and injuries to key players....because last preseason was a catastrophe
Surely we can't roll out that every season we didn't so well because of injuries. Its a squad game now and has been for a number of years, if the sum of your squad is poor overall then its simply poor.
Its not as if every other club have not had their fair share of injured players to stars either as has being frequently pointed out throughout this season.
Its a scapegoat comment for some shocking performances and displays and shows how out of depth the squad actually is in this league. Its almost a certainty we are not going to get through a whole season without players being injured. We had players injured last season for long lengths to if I remember rightly in one of our best seasons. Lanzini / Antonio / Sakho / Carroll / Payet / Reid all injured for long periods of time last season.
Yes, lots of teams get injuries. But there are 7 teams below us in the league too. There seems to be this feeling that we have had a worse season than anybody else has, but we are 13th in the league. By no means have I enjoyed this season (it's been the first season in many years that I haven't been that interested (although that might be more to do with the rest of my life than the football)), but it has been no worse than a dozen others.
For me, the core of the squad is good. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew, Lanzini, Carroll are all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes of Byram, Collins, Feghouli, Snodgrass, are good players for us too.
Every team suffers when you take out key players, because the replacements are replacements for a reason, they aren't as good. Our issue is that we have been forced to rely on players we would rather use as bit part far more often that we would have hoped.
IMO, and it is only my opinion, the main two positions we need to address are GK and ST. I would like a new RB, but I have faith that Byram can be a good player for us for years to come, and I would like to see him trusted with the position.
For me, the core of the squad is good. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Cresswell (still think he can replicate his form so will give you that one), Noble (Core but not top 10 standard imo), Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew (has the ability to but not seen enough of it yet), Lanzini, Carroll (not core if you cant depend on him for more than half a season are all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes of Byram, Collins (solid backup does a job), Feghouli, Snodgrass, are good players for us too.
Striked through the ones who I think are below top 10 standard and for me top 10 should be where we are when looking at our Financials + based in London + Wages paid.
You think we can spend nearly £100m in one window? If that's what you consider 'proper' investment it's no wonder you think the board don't back the club.
For me, in priority order, we need GK, ST, DR, WG.
GK: £5m-£15m. I think Joe Hart and Jordan Pickford would be available at the top end of that budget. Cheaper options that I consider a step up on what we have would be people like Asmir Begovic, Lukasz Fabianski, David Ospina. I also think we could test Stoke for Jack Butland, seeing as Lee Grant has been so good this year.
ST: £15m-£30m. I don't see the point in saying "we need to spend £30m" because we can offer it but that doesn't mean £30m players want to join us. I actually think there are decent option out there for less money than that anyway. The one I would like to see us go all out for is Javier Hernandez. He's scoring goals for Bayer, even though they have had a bad season. They aren't getting Europe, and I would imagine we would be able to offer him guaranteed football and a pay increase. He's also only got one season left on his contract, so could be available.
DR: £10m-£15m. I still want to see Byram make this place his own, but we definitely need an alternative. For £10m we could probably get Craig Dawson off WBA, who I think has been one of the best fullbacks in the league this season. I am also still a fan of Dominic Iorfa. Would be nice to have two young rightbacks to battle it out.
WG: £15m-£20m. For me, we should only be targeting a winger once the other three positions are sorted. In Antonio, Feghouli, Ayew and Snodgrass we should be well stocked here, and we have Valencia returning too. If we were able to sell and upgrade then that would be great, but it isn't a burning issue like the other positions, IMO.
I don't think that we need another CM when we have a pool of Noble, Kouyate, Obiang, Fernandes, and we all want to see Josh Cullen get a chance at the club. Signing a new CM means Cullen may as well leave, tbh. Obviously if one of the others leaves we'll need to replace.
So I think an investment of £30m - £60m should be made on those first three positions. I would like to think that SOME of that would be recouped through sales, but we shall see.
Alderz, Palace spent 80 odd million. We have double the capacity and made an 8 million profit in January. Around 100m in the summer should be available. This season we've got Ayew for 20m and spent money on loans and frees. We've also sold Payet and Tomkins for a combined 37m. TV money, Boleyn Ground Sale, Player profit. If we don't spend big in the summer we're going to really struggle again
Palace sold Bolaise for £32 mill we won't be able to flog any of our players for anything like that unless AC goes to China . I think £50 - £60 million is more likely.
I'm not doing it again, because it clearly doesn't change the mythology around it, but a few weeks ago I went through all the ins and outs for season for all PL clubs to look at net spend and we are one of the highest spenders in the division.
The owners could spend £200m and there would be people saying we should have spent £201m.
Presumably, by reducing the debt by £40m we are in a better financial position, and therefore are able to grow as a club and not be hampered by so much debt. This would eventually lead to our ability to sign better players.
wait, a long term plan to improve the club doesn't mean that the very next season we are going to be in the champions league and winning the premiership!
Yest Twist, we would have been much better off staying at the Boleyn, with £40m debt and 20 000 less paying customers.
It's hard to know what the owners were thinking...
But, if we're having to split revenue with LLDC, have we really got 20,000 more paying customers now? I can't claim to know the full details of the agreement (I thought we just paid rent and got to keep all our gate receipts), but if ASLEF is right then are we really any better off?
Comments
I don't need to imagine. I just need to remember my reaction at the close of the recent transfer windows to know how they would look.
Tore is a loan that we've tried to let go
Adrian
Arbeloa
Sakho
Valencia (if we can, see last window)
Calleri
Arguably can see leaving. Think Nordtveit, Snodgrass and Feghouli will be given another year to show their worth unless a good bid comes in
I'd keep Masuaka think he has a lot of potential as does fernandes
De ja vu. If true how can he expect to start after being out so long!
We've had a bad season but Antonio, Lanzini, Obiang, Reid and Kouyate (less so than the others) have still had good seasons....all 5 of those players are top half of the table players
Cresswell has had an awful season that was disrupted by an bad injury during preseason....before that he's been one of the best left backs in the league...and can only hope that his class pulls through as
I refuse to believe that none of Ayew, Feghouli or Snodgrass can't find a place in this team their history suggests they can all be big players
Masuaka got some early flack but I've been encouraged he's just a young man, and byram while rash shows the potential to be a useful player
Collins when called upon has been a rock and like the 3 attackers I mentioned I can't 100% rule out Fonte not being a big player....class tells and he's got class
What we really need is a good preseason.....undisturbed but Europa league and injuries to key players....because last preseason was a catastrophe
Its not as if every other club have not had their fair share of injured players to stars either as has being frequently pointed out throughout this season.
Its a scapegoat comment for some shocking performances and displays and shows how out of depth the squad actually is in this league. Its almost a certainty we are not going to get through a whole season without players being injured. We had players injured last season for long lengths to if I remember rightly in one of our best seasons. Lanzini / Antonio / Sakho / Carroll / Payet / Reid all injured for long periods of time last season.
These are players that have been ruled out for 8 weeks or more:
Byram
Cresswell
Ogbonna
Masuaka
Obiang
Ayew
Carroll
Sakho
Tore
Feghouli (first game of the season as well)
They are all long term injuries....name a team that has had the same luck
For me, the core of the squad is good. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew, Lanzini, Carroll are all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes of Byram, Collins, Feghouli, Snodgrass, are good players for us too.
Every team suffers when you take out key players, because the replacements are replacements for a reason, they aren't as good. Our issue is that we have been forced to rely on players we would rather use as bit part far more often that we would have hoped.
IMO, and it is only my opinion, the main two positions we need to address are GK and ST. I would like a new RB, but I have faith that Byram can be a good player for us for years to come, and I would like to see him trusted with the position.
Ogbonna,Fonte, Cresswell (still think he can replicate his form so will give you that one), Noble (Core but not top 10 standard imo), Obiang, Kouyate, Antonio, Ayew (has the ability to but not seen enough of it yet), Lanzini,Carroll (not core if you cant depend on him for more than half a seasonare all players I would want to build a squad around for a club our size. Then the likes ofByram, Collins (solid backup does a job),Feghouli,Snodgrass, are good players for us too.Striked through the ones who I think are below top 10 standard and for me top 10 should be where we are when looking at our Financials + based in London + Wages paid.
8 bad ones. 1 good one (Lanzini loan)
I originally said that the second half of this season would be the opposite of the first and we'd be back on track, how wrong was I??!?
Get a top notch keeper stop faffing around trying to keep two No.2's happy
Get a RB but the right one who can show Byram the way to do it, not one that you're going to fall out with
We're overloaded with midfielders and wide men, get another striker
That's it, regroup with hopefully an injury free summer, DO NOT STICK SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES and the jobs a goodun!!
coyi
GK (10-15m)
RB (10m-15m)
CM (15m)
LW (15-20m)
FW (25-30m)
GK: £5m-£15m. I think Joe Hart and Jordan Pickford would be available at the top end of that budget. Cheaper options that I consider a step up on what we have would be people like Asmir Begovic, Lukasz Fabianski, David Ospina. I also think we could test Stoke for Jack Butland, seeing as Lee Grant has been so good this year.
ST: £15m-£30m. I don't see the point in saying "we need to spend £30m" because we can offer it but that doesn't mean £30m players want to join us. I actually think there are decent option out there for less money than that anyway. The one I would like to see us go all out for is Javier Hernandez. He's scoring goals for Bayer, even though they have had a bad season. They aren't getting Europe, and I would imagine we would be able to offer him guaranteed football and a pay increase. He's also only got one season left on his contract, so could be available.
DR: £10m-£15m. I still want to see Byram make this place his own, but we definitely need an alternative. For £10m we could probably get Craig Dawson off WBA, who I think has been one of the best fullbacks in the league this season. I am also still a fan of Dominic Iorfa. Would be nice to have two young rightbacks to battle it out.
WG: £15m-£20m. For me, we should only be targeting a winger once the other three positions are sorted. In Antonio, Feghouli, Ayew and Snodgrass we should be well stocked here, and we have Valencia returning too. If we were able to sell and upgrade then that would be great, but it isn't a burning issue like the other positions, IMO.
I don't think that we need another CM when we have a pool of Noble, Kouyate, Obiang, Fernandes, and we all want to see Josh Cullen get a chance at the club. Signing a new CM means Cullen may as well leave, tbh. Obviously if one of the others leaves we'll need to replace.
So I think an investment of £30m - £60m should be made on those first three positions. I would like to think that SOME of that would be recouped through sales, but we shall see.
The owners could spend £200m and there would be people saying we should have spent £201m.
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/west-ham-united/transfers/verein/379
Palace spent net about £6m more than us last year I think this year we will spend quite abit more than them this summer.
Would rather go for 2/3 decent players than 5 snodgrasses
We have double the capacity of Palace but we split the gate receipts with LLDC/GLA
The £40m or whatever we made on the Boleyn went straight to the bank to repay some of The Debt
Well the club lied to us all then!!
It's hard to know what the owners were thinking...